Gloves are worn in a variety of sports for purposes such as protection of the hands and to enhance the grip or feel of an athlete. American football players encounter particular needs to protect their hands. The need to protect a player's hands from injury is particularly acute for some positions. For example, offensive line play can place significant demands, such as impacts with other players, upon the hands of the linemen. Similarly, defensive players, especially along the defensive line, can risk harm or injury to their hands during the normal course of play. For this reason, protective gloves are often worn by football players, particularly offensive linemen and defensive players. Such protective gloves often include padding to soften blows to portions of the player's hand. Cushioning may be particularly desirable along portions of a hand with less from the soft tissue of the hand, such as the knuckles or fingers, or areas for which contact frequently occurs, such as the heal of the hand. Padding may be added to a protective glove by stitching a layer of pliable material, such as fabric, leather, etc., over a pad of material to retain the pad in place while the glove is worn. Unfortunately, the stitching to retain padding itself may be particularly apt to fray, tear, break, or otherwise degrade, particularly since padding may often be placed so as to protect areas of frequent contact on a player's hand. Further, stitching necessarily penetrates the fabric of the glove, which weakens the fabric itself and renders it susceptible to ripping and/or tearing. If a glove will be exposed to moisture, such as perspiration or precipitation, which can further weaken stitching and lead to material cracking as the moisture dries.